UN adopts plan to fight violence against women

‘WE DID IT’:The treaty faced opposition from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which called it ‘deceitful,’ but Egypt’s delegation supported it over its objections

AP, UNITED NATIONS

Protesters take part in a demonstration to show their support for the Egyptian military and against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has warned that a UN document demanding global standards to prevent violence against women is un-Islamic and would lead to the “complete degradation of society.”

Photo: AFP

Conservative Muslim and Roman Catholic countries and liberal Western nations approved a UN blueprint to combat violence against women and girls, ignoring strong objections from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood that it clashed with Islamic principles and sought to destroy the family.

After two weeks of tough and often contentious negotiations, 131 countries joined consensus on Friday night on a compromise 17-page document that former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, the head of the UN women’s agency, called historic because it sets global standards for action to prevent and end “one of the gravest violations of human rights in the world, the violence that is committed against women and girls.”

“People worldwide expected action, and we didn’t fail them,” she said to loud applause. “Yes, we did it.”

On Wednesday, the Brotherhood, which has emerged as the most powerful political faction in Egypt since the 2011 uprising, lashed out at the anticipated document for advocating sexual freedoms for women and the right to abortion “under the guise of sexual and reproductive rights.”

It called the title, on eliminating and preventing all forms of violence against women and girls, “deceitful.”

Last week, Egypt proposed an amendment to the text saying that each country is sovereign and can implement the document in accordance with its own laws and customs, a provision strongly opposed by many countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

It was dropped in the final compromise drafted by the meeting’s chair.

Instead, the final text urges all countries “to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition and religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination.”

When countries were polled on their views on the final draft, there was fear among the declaration’s supporters that Egypt would oppose it, which would block the consensus required for adoption.

The head of Egypt’s delegation, politician and diplomat Mervat Tallawy, surprised and delighted the overwhelming majority of delegates and onlookers in the crowded UN conference room when she ignored the Brotherhood and announced that Egypt would join consensus.

“International solidarity is needed for women’s empowerment and preventing this regressive mood, whether in the developing countries or developed, or in the Middle East in particular,” Tallawy told two reporters afterward. “It’s a global wave of conservatism, of repression against women, and this paper is a message that if we can get together, hold power together, we can be a strong wave against this conservatism.”

Tallawy, who is president of the National Council for Women-Egypt, said she has told this to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who came from the Muslim Brotherhood: “I believe in women’s cause. I don’t take money from the government. I work voluntarily. If they want to kick me out they can, but I will not change my belief in women,” she said.

“Women are the slaves of this age. This is unacceptable, and particularly in our region,” she said.

A number of Muslim and Catholic countries including Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Holy See and Honduras expressed reservations about elements of the text — but Libya was the only country to dissociate itself from the final document, though it did not block consensus. Libya’s top cleric raised similar concerns to the Muslim Brotherhood, rejecting the document for violating Islamic teachings.